The present invention relates generally to communicating with transponders in a fueling environment and, more particularly, to a dispensing system capable of arbitrating between competing tags and dispensers to ensure a dispenser communicates with the tag most proximate to that dispenser.
In recent years, traditional gasoline pumps at service stations have evolved into elaborate point-of-sale (POS) devices having sophisticated control electronics and user interfaces with large displays and touch pads (or screens). These dispensers include various types of payment means, such as card readers, to expedite and further enhance fueling transactions. A customer is not limited to the purchase of fuel at the dispenser. More recent dispensers allow the customer to purchase services, such as car washes, and goods such as fast food or convenience store products at the dispenser. Once purchased, the customer need only pick up the goods and services at the station store.
Given the ever increasing demand to increase transaction efficiency by both fuel suppliers and customers, transaction systems associated with the service stations are further evolving to provide fully automated authorization and purchasing. It would be advantageous if customers no longer needed to use a credit/debit card or smartcard to purchase fuel or other products or services. This can be accomplished if the customer, vehicle or both are equipped with a remote intelligent communications device, or transponder (hereinafter referred to as a tag for simplicity), capable of remotely communicating with fuel dispensers and other devices as desired. These tags and dispensers operate in conjunction to provide a cashless and cardless transaction system where transactions are automatically charged or debited without requiring any action by the customer. A tag is a remote communication device capable of unidirectional or bi-directional communications to and/or from a fuel dispenser's remote communications system.
Numerous patents have issued and foreign applications published relating to technology associated with communicating information between a tag or like transponder and the fuel dispenser. These patents disclose communicating between the tag and fuel dispenser with fiber optics, electromagnetic radiation, such as radio frequency transmissions, infrared, direct electrical connections and various others means or combination of these means. Various types of information are communicated between the tag and the dispenser including vehicle identification, customer identification, account information, fuel requirements, diagnostics, advertising, and various other types of solicited and unsolicited messages. Certain specific applications equip the tag and dispenser with cryptography electronics to encrypt and decrypt data transferred between the tag and dispenser.
Tag transponder technology is used in many areas of technology relating to vehicles. Such technology is used in tracking vehicles, navigational aids, toll collection, diagnostics, vehicle security and theft deterrence, keyless entry, refueling, collision avoidance, vehicle identification, surveillance and traffic control as well as transmitting and receiving financial data.
In theory, such communications between a tag and a fuel dispenser appear to be an answer to increasing transactional efficiencies. However, when multiple tags are used in an application where a single tag can be read by multiple devices, the problem of location arbitration becomes an issue. Location arbitration is defined as the process of determining the physical closest proximity of a tag to a dispenser in applications where the proximity of the tag to the dispenser basically determines which dispenser and dispenser side should interact with the tag.
One example is the use of a tag to authorize a credit card transaction at a gasoline dispenser in place of a credit card. In this instance, multiple dispensers might have the ability to read the same tag but, by nature of the application, only the dispenser that is closest to the tag is meant to interact with the tag. To further complicate the issue, numerous tags may be within a single dispenser's communication field to provide a situation where multiple dispensers are talking with multiple tags. Although current systems are available for determining the existence and identity of tags, applicants are not aware of any systems providing an economical and effective system and process to associate the proximity of a tag with the various dispensers in close proximity to each other, which may cause multiple tags to be read by multiple dispensers within a narrowly defined time frame.